Brad Barritt explains the ‘risk’ of Antoine Dupont’s World Cup injury return

Former England and Saracens centre Brad Barritt believes that Antoine Dupont has “sufficient” time to recover for the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals.

Barritt had his fair share of injuries during his career, including a facial fracture similar to the France captain sustained against Namibia in the World Cup pool stages.

There are concerns about Dupont possibly sustaining a concussion from the tackle, but Barritt has given some insight to the maxillo-zygomatic fracture the scrum-half suffered.

Dupont can make a good comeback

The former centre suffered two fractures in his face in 2018, the first of which was during a Premiership match ahead of the Champions Cup quarter-final against Leinster.

He was operated on shortly afterwards and would go on to play the game against Leinster.

“I desperately wanted to play against Leinster and because it was such a tight turnaround the decision was to [insert the plates] under local anaesthetic,” Barritt recalled in an interview with inews.

“Because there would be no after-effects of overcoming a general anaesthetic and the fatigue you have. It was done in an operating theatre much like you do in a dentist’s chair.

“For Dupont in terms of a World Cup quarter-final three weeks later, it should be sufficient for him to make a good comeback – all things being equal.”

Barritt added that there was some fear when going into contact that he could re-fracture but said that confidence grew quickly each time he went into contact.

“The thing that was always explained to me from the maxillofacial surgeon was now it’s been reinforced with titanium, you carry the same risk for the next weekend that you’d carry in the next season,” he said.

“When you get a sharp object or something hits you hard in the face there’s a risk that it could re-fracture. But from an eyesight perspective, there’s nothing that creates any more risk now than what you’re carrying in the future.

“In a perfect world, you would have had the luxury of letting it bed in. The fact is, with rugby, you are always playing with some level of inflammation at any given point.

Abuse towards Deysel

The 37-year-old added that he also felt for Namibia captain Johan Deysel, who made the tackle that injured Dupont.

Deysel has since been handed a five-game ban for the incident but was the subject of online abuse.

“I also have a little bit of empathy for Johan Deysel,” Barritt said.

“There is a fine line between what would be applauded as a very offensive, great tackle and getting it really badly wrong. I haven’t ever met a rugby player who’s gone out there intentionally to hurt someone.

“Obviously, he should take full responsibility, and the [five-match] ban will be his punishment. But when you hear stories of him getting death threats, it’s hard to take because I don’t think what happened was ever his intention.”

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